Jamel Shabazz

'Pieces of a Man'

1980 - 2015

PRESSRELEASEFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASESeptember 1, 2016

‘Pieces of a Man’ (Artvoices Art Books 2016) brings together 25 years of street photographs by noted American photographer Jamel Shabazz.

“I am forever grateful to have the treasured gift of vision and equally as thankful to the thousands of people who stood before my lens and allowed me to document their essence; without you there would be no work.“ – Jamel Shabazz

The book includes texts from Paul M. Farber a scholar of American and Urban Studies. He is currently a Postdoctoral Writing Fellow at Haverford College. Farber received a PhD in American Culture from the University of Michigan. He previously was the Doctoral Fellow at the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C., and a visiting scholar in the Urban Studies program at the University of Pennsylvania. Akintola Hanif is the Founder & Editor-In-Chief of Hycide Magazine. Terrence Jennings (writer/photographer) began professionally photographing in 1997 and since, his images have appeared in such publications as People Magazine, The New York Times, Vibe Magazine, Rolling Stone Magazine, The Source Magazine, Russell Simmons' One World Magazine, The London Observer, The Amsterdam News and The Village Voice. Sohail Daulatzaiis an Associate Professor in the Department of Film and Media Studies and African American Studies at the University of California, Irvine.

Summer in the NYC 1984

"Beginning in Brooklyn’s tight-knit neighborhoods, including his own, Jamel Shabazz captured a true reflection of people of color now revered as a form of social commentary. His work resonates around the world because it is authentic. He has the authority to speak for us and yet he maintains genuine humility and respect for his people. From the streets of Brooklyn to Europe to Africa, Jamel’s work is inclusive and compassionate without imposing his views on how people should represent themselves. He gives his subjects control over their own image, and in that you see the dignity that he sees in them; turning everyday people into icons. While some celebrate an era or style, Jamel reminds us to celebrate the people, not just the image."

"Like his photographic influences—James Van Der Zee, Gordon Parks, and Leonard Freed, among others—Shabazz shares the ability to extend his perception of historical time across registers: from the moment he captures his images to their sequencing in monographs through the process of sorting and presenting work out of his archive to make an argument that pushes the status quo. His practice of naming his influences and riffing on their iconic images is a sincere form of intellectual and artistic respect. Shabazz carries the mantle of his received tradition even as he adapts to shift with changes in the art form. In turn, the uses of his photographs are far reaching as well—from album covers to fashion campaigns and, most powerfully, as they take their place in museum collections such as the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. With extensive global audiences and interlocutors for his work, he also regularly connects with his admirers on social media and on trips abroad, sometimes reconnecting with the subjects of his photography from earlier decades. In these ways Shabazz’s work, while deeply concerned with the passage and organization of time, has crossed multiple borders and thus achieved a rare form of timelessness. Shabazz’s career continues to evolve as a long arc. His immense archive gains new layers of meaning through each project as he continues to document the mechanisms and movements of history. He continually produces new possibilities for historical reflection, awareness, and action. The pieces of his lifelong artistic practice cohere across time through long-established modes of connection, from encounter to encounter, image to image, and project to project. In short, through his use of photography, Shabazz shapes history."

–Excerpt from Reflecting Forward by Paul M. Farber

When 2 Worlds Meet

"Social endeavors, religious gatherings, political engagements abound through the People›s Photographer, Jamel Shabazz. Much more than that, we find a community full of vibrancy and articulation bent on sticking it to the powers-that-be, that indeed we do exist and here is proof. We see Poets, Writers, Athletes, Politicians, Mothers, Fathers, Entertainers, Religious Leaders and everyday heroes abounding in his new work, all symbolizing the connective link in the book of life. Shabazz’s images are the gift that keeps giving. His love for humanity and his ‘forever ever backwards never’ mantra that he imbues us with in this new collection of images lends away to a bygone era where comradery was king. With the use of mobile and interactive technology the masses have lost touch with human engagement and family functions. The images laid before you in this book hark to an era where life was better and possessed a greater sense of being."

–Excerpt by Terrance Jennings

Church Ladies

"It would be seductive to look at his photos and see an innocence there, or to try and find that marketing fetish of “dope” and “fresh.” That’s no doubt there, but that ain’t all. Jamel’s photos do reveal a style and swagger, but don’t mistake that for a lack of substance. That’s too often done in these nostalgic “back in the day” narratives – they fetishize the style that’s worn but don’t celebrate the people who are wearing it. The boldness you see and the style and swag you admire are part of a resilience and resistance – a celebration of life amidst the maddeningly surreal and even absurd violence directed at Black and Brown people who are caught on the barrel end of Amerika."

-Excerpt from 2000: Age of Obama by Sohail Daulatzai

An Uncertain Future

Jamel Shabazz was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. At the age of fifteen, he picked up his first camera and started to document his peers. Inspired by photographers Leonard Freed, James Van Der Zee, and Gordon Parks, he was marveled with their documentation of the African American community. In 1980 as a concerned photographer with a clear vision he embarked on a mission to extensively document various aspects of life in New York City, from youth culture to a wide range of social conditions. Due to its spontaneity and uniqueness, the streets and subway system became backdrops for many of his photographs.

Shabazz says his goal is to contribute to the preservation of world history and culture. In the past 10 years he has had over two dozen solo exhibitions; “Men of Honor”, “A Time Before Crack”, “Pieces of a Man”, “Represent”, When Two Worlds Meet”, “Back in the Days,” and “Seconds of my Life,” which have been shown from Argentina to The Netherlands, England, Italy, Germany, France, Japan and throughout the United States.

Solo and Group exhibitions include Art Basel; Miami, the Brooklyn Museum, the Newark Museum, the Contact Photo Festival, the Victoria and Albert Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, Duke University, and the Adidas Photo Festival in Ethiopia.

Over the years Jamel has volunteered, working with a wide range organizations centered on inspiring young people in the field of photography and social responsibility. In addition, he has been a teaching artist with the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation; the Bronx Museum’s Teen Council youth program, The International Center of Photography, Friends of the Island Academy; and the Studio Museum in Harlem’s Expanding the Walls Project.

Adding to his community service he has lectured at the The International Center for Photography, Fashion Institute of Technology, The Brooklyn Historic Foundation, Haverford College and Parsons New School of Design.

60 Americans

PRESS RELEASEFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASESeptember 1, 2016

’60 Americans’ is a response to the ill-gotten gains of flipper based collectors, money corrupted and trend obsessed gallerists, shopping mall (puppy mill/factory) inspired art fairs, nepotism and favoritism of the made men and women of fast track MFA programs in America. This exhibition will offer an alternative perspective on what’s arguably relevant and important in the current landscape of American contemporary art.

Curated by Noah Becker, Alexander Venet & Terrence Sanders

Text by Noah Becker, Jonathan Goodman, Sol Sax, and Terrence Sanders.

Jamel Shabazz

“60 Americans is an anthology of the American condition, its collection of disparate identities serving as an example for what the entire world will eventually look like, if it hasn’t happened already.” – Jonathan Goodman

Stephanie Keith

“60 Americans is an honest examination of the current climate of contemporary art from artists who live and work in America.”

- Terrence Sanders

Rajko Radovanovic

“Diego Rivera was celebrated because of social realism. When Rockefeller invited him to do frescos at Rockefeller center and Diego depicted the Soviet Revolutionaries. Rockefeller had the frescos removed. Rockefeller stopped supporting the socio-politically charged Social Realism and started supporting Abstract Expressionism. Today the rich are still trying to find safe art to invest their money in. ‘60 Americans’ is an exhibition featuring the dangerous images with a narrative that the wealthy attempt to avoid.” – Sol Sax

Miru Kim

“The basic premise is that real art and real artists can and should have the right to excel in a just society. Those real artists who take their work seriously and spend a lifetime working on their art become marginalized overnight through exhibitions dedicated to trends that revolve around this kind of shock and awe curating.” – Noah Becker

Satomi Shirai

For more information about 60 Americans, visit: (www.60americans.com)

Terrence Sanders

'Dead Lost or Displaced'

PRESS RELEASEFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASESeptember 1, 2016

“I conceptualized and created this series to document the lives of Louisiana natives mostly in and around New Orleans and Baton Rouge. It never occurred to me that this series would become my memorial so to speak to the innocent, who either are dead, lost or displaced due to the events that occurred after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. During the 11 day AFTERMATH of Hurricane Katrina, the one thing that helped me cope with the despair and anger was working on the sentiments to place with the images.” - Terrence Sanders

Innocence Lost

Dead Lost or Displaced features excerpts from the New Orleans Times Picayune article ‘Peace Among the Ruins’ by Pulitzer prize winner Chris Rose author of 1 Dead in Attic, which is a collection of stories recounting the first four harrowing months of life in New Orleans after Katrina. The book went on to become a New York Times Bestseller and garnered a number of accolades.

Envy Jealousy

“Take the compassionate eye of photographer Walker Evans, add the contemporary tragedy of Hurricane Katrina and a dash of poetry, and you have Terrence Sanders. Sanders’s subjects confront the camera willingly and without coercion, with a variety of attitudes—some are vulnerable, others manage a shy or sheepish smile, a couple of them look high on something; all are united by their education in the School of Hard Knocks. "There but for the grace of God go I," might be the first thought to occur to viewers, followed by the question: What happened to these people that made them slip through the cracks? Was it moral weakness or just plain bad luck?

Every day we pass people like this, on our way to work or in the supermarket parking lot, waiting by the bus stop, and often they barely register on our consciousness—and that is surely the express purpose behind Sanders' work: to make us look these people in the eye. These artworks preserve a momentary impression of a specific person on a certain day that for some reason the artist found worthy of documentation. Their presence is not immediate and palpable, but rather somewhat abstracted, shaped by the black and white film and the addition of diaristic prose that is yet subjective, from the artist's point of view. These artworks are politically motivated—they get under your skin, and once there, make themselves impossible to ignore. "You do your part and I'll do mine," the artist has written. Point well taken, Mr. Sanders. - JoAnne S. Northrup, Director of Contemporary Art Initiatives at the Nevada Museum of Art and theformer Chief Curator at the Katie and Drew Gibson San Jose Museum of Art.

Candelight Flickers

“The essential function of a memorial is to preserve a memory. Against the erosion of time, memorials resist the human flaws of forgetfulness and apathy. When executing his “Dead, Lost, or Displaced” series in the days immediately following Katrina, Sanders was unaware that he was creating his own kind of memorial. Two memories are simultaneously preserved: photographic documentation of living or once living New Orleanians. Their presence exists as an affirmation of what was and what continues to persist. The other memory preserved is one that many can relate to: the surge of emotions and concerns at that moment of crisis. The words commemorate something more intangible, but which nonetheless has a equally ‘felt’ presence in this town.” -Miranda Lash, Speed Art Museum’s Curator of Contemporary Artand the Former Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the New Orleans Museum of Art.

Stronger Means

“We all have things / issues we doubt to say, things we think embarrassing or shameful to express. The people in Terrence Sanders's photography are saying this without speech without sound but through capture of emotion and feeling through sight. They made me think and not speak just wonder and relate.” -Michaela Kastly, Camera Press Gallery, London.

Alone Listen

“This body of work puts a huge twist on documentary photography. As we sometimes selfishly attach to someone’s image because they have an intriguing look-Terrence Sanders clearly wants to know the stories behind the faces.”-Nicole Morgenthau, Photographer, New York City.

Beautiful Ugly

“Terrence Sanders has a wonderful way of capturing true human emotion in his work. His use of mixed media adds depth and meaning to photographs already full to the brim with the power of his message. The artist clearly has a passion for displaying the harsh reality of American life, and he manages to make this reality beautiful, thought provoking, and impossible to ignore. -Julia Henderson, Art Editor, Fringe Magazine.

Rewards Change

‘In contrast to Terrence Sanders paintings which are filled with political and racial rage, I found the “Dead Lost or Displaced” series to be extremely poetic and personal on a level which revealed an inner beauty and compassion of the artist which made the viewer aware of the deep trauma and inner feelings of his subjects. A true accomplishment.” -Ronald Sosinski, Director of Proposition Gallery, New York City

Dream Awake

For more information about Dead Lost or Displaced, visit: (www.terrencesanders.com)

Jim Sohr '40 Year Retrospective'

Jim Sohr

The Saratoga Collection

Curated by Terrence Sanders

"Like many things in New Orleans, the post-Katrina cultural landscape has had many ruptures and unexpected developments. Among the most significant is the emergence of galleries, artist co-ops and alternative spaces in the Bywater neighborhood along the axis of St. Claude Avenue. These spaces, while often administered by and exhibiting established artists, have nevertheless offered an unprecedented opportunity for emerging artists, a new sense of community, and a climate for critical discussion. This exhibition, while not systematic or all-inclusive in intent or context, offers a snapshot of the evolution and effervescent nature of contemporary art in post-Katrina New Orleans. The Saratoga Collection is the result of a partnership between artist/publisher Terrence Sanders and architect/developer Marcel Wisznia, and is the centerpiece for the renovation of a downtown apartment building by the same name. In assembling this collection, Terrence Sanders saw this opportunity “as a way of documenting the burgeoning art scene in New Orleans’ St. Claude and Bywater arts districts.” But more importantly, this collection of over 40 artists describes a specific area of the city and celebrates artists who made the conscious decision to live and work in post-Katrina New Orleans at a time when many things were uncertain." - David Houston Former Director of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, former Director of Curatorial at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.